Kenya MP Proposes Bank Guarantees for Government Contracts

Thika Town Member of Parliament, Honourable Wainaina Wa Jungle has proposed an amendment to the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, 2015 to include the requirement for all government procurements to be accompanied by a bank guarantee to protect suppliers and contractors from delayed payments.

“According to Public Procurement Amendment Bill 2018 that am tabling, all contracts issued by county or national government will be accompanied by bank guarantees. If government does not pay within 30 days of contract delivery, contractor will just walk into the bank and collect his pay and procurement officer in charge shall be held personally liable,” he said through a Facebook post.

In his proposal, Honourable Wainaina wants, in addition to bank guarantee, the minimum amount of money for exclusive preference for tenders be increased from the current Kes.500 million to Kes.1 billion. He also wants a preference given to local suppliers who bid for tenders, “…in awarding tenders preference be given to Kenyans who bid for up to one and a half times bid by foreigners,” reads his proposal.

Engineer Wainaina says that his proposed amendment to the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, 2015 is to not only protect local suppliers from late payments but also to give them an edge over foreign suppliers, who have until now, been favoured by the system.

“Our people are being bankrupted by the same government they put in office, while the same government are promoting foreigners and giving them an upper hand. This bill has already been allocated by the speaker of national assembly and is in the committee stage,” he concluded his Facebook post.